It’s official: Meg, Blanche, Stephanie and I are all Beauty U Seniors. We’ve waded our way through all 21 chapters of Milady’s Standard Fundamentals for Estheticians, and passed all four practical exams (makeup, facials, body treatments, and waxing).

We’ve clocked 300 hours (umm…or thereabouts; I admit to having lost track a few weeks ago). Which means we’re past the halfway point. And ready to be let loose on the clinic floor.

Unfortunately, the Beauty U powers that be finally got that memo about not letting non-senior students work on clients, and stopped accepting new appointments. Just in time for us to be ready for new appointments. Oops. So, our first night in the clinic is much like every other night at Beauty U thus far; I give Meg an upper leg wax. She gives me a paraffin foot dip. Blanche gives Stephanie a back facial. Miss Stacy supervises, which means we talk about her wedding plans and whether or not the day students are doing their fair share of the laundry. (Our verdict: They are not.)

So while I wait for our spa adventures to pick back up, I thought I’d pull together this list of my ten favorite Beauty Schooled posts so far. Then I had a hard time editing it down, so this is more a list of ten posts/little groupings of posts that I think are working well together. If you’re new to the project (hi Jezebel readers!) consider this your “previously on…” primer. If you’ve been a devoted follower from the beginning, enjoy this (roughly in chronological order, even!) mini-retrospective.

1. The Daytime Face. Hint: It’s not the one you wake up wearing.

2. (Extra Credit) Baby beauty pageants. Still the top reason people find this blog through search engine terms, by the way. That’s how obsessed we are with “Toddlers in Tiaras.”

3. Career Opportunities, Scott’s Beauty Business Sense, and But Have You Considered a Recession-Proof Career in Beauty? work together quite nicely on one of my big themes: How beauty schools (and for-profit trade schools in general) promise to “professionalize” the working poor, when in fact, you’re actually going to pay or borrow thousands of dollars and still struggle to clear $20-30K per year.

4. Rock Stars and Role Models, Trade Schools Scam Students, and Tax-Payers Like You & Graduation Day (No, Not Mine) are good on that issue too. (Don’t believe me? Check out the comments from salon workers on the Jezebel thread. And hello to salon workers reading this; I’d love to hear more from you. Email me on beautyschooledproject@gmail.com if you have a story to share.)

5. Selling on Up (And Making It Up as you go.) Oh Upselling. You make the world go round.

6. (Not) hooked on a peeling & More Thoughts on Chemical Peels. Tonight a five-year-old black girl comes in for cornrows and cried for two hours straight. “It hurts to be beautiful,” says Stephanie, and reminds me of these posts, because the beauty to pain ratio is an ongoing calculation around here, particularly in terms of how the beauty industry markets to women (and girls) of color.

7. Would You Like Your Breasts Included With This Service? This one just makes me happy.

8. Miss Jenny Quits & Miss Jenny Quits Part 2: The Crackdown Begins And these make me sad.

9. The Man Facial (Excuse Me, Skin Treatment). Marketing to men is hilarious. Performing spa services on men is less hilarious. And more often seems to border on sex work — I have more coming up on this topic soon, so stay tuned.

10. So What’s the Deal with Waxing? (Because my arms feel naked now.) Where we are now.

Plus, here are some handy tips for navigating the site:

• Check out About to get the back story on what the heck I’m doing here.
• Go to In Class to catch up on all the Beauty U adventures thus far.
• Click Glossed Over for my take on beauty in the media, For Extra Credit for musings on beauty issues making news, and Happenings for beauty stuff that is, well, happening. Or just go click around in the Category Cloud to your right — lots more good stuff in there.
• Go over to the right where it says subscribe to add me to your RSS feed or subscribe via email. (I never do anything with your emails, promise — we’re 100% spam free around here.)
• Follow me (@beauty_schooled) on Twitter.

And last, for readers new and old: I’d love to hear what else you’d like to see in this space. More behind the scenes at Beauty U? More on beauty in the media? More guest posts? More on something I haven’t even thought up yet? Comment or email me anytime.

PS. Also good to know: The BSP Product Policy.